1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to the field of aeroelastic analysis. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a neural network for aeroelastic analysis.
2. Description of Related Art
Aeroelastic analysis is typically used in the aerospace industry to characterize aircraft and structures that form part of or that affect the stability of the aircraft. Aircraft are increasingly designed for and subjected to longer service lives. As a result, one or more structures on an aircraft may be repaired or altered during the life of the structure. Any repair or alteration of an aircraft structure may affect the aeroelastic characteristics of the aircraft.
To ensure that a structural repair or modification does not detrimentally affect the safety or flight characteristics of the aircraft, the repaired or modified structure may be subjected to aeroelastic analysis, such as aeroelastic stability or flutter analysis.
A flutter assessment for repairs of a surface, such as a surface of a wing or tail section, can be more detailed than non-repair flutter analysis because the analysis typically needs to determine the effects of additional mass. Each individual repair to a surface may need to be accounted for in the analysis, and there may be numerous surface repairs. The desire to perform aeroelastic analysis may be heightened when the locations and weights of repairs exceed a predetermined category of approved repair parameters.
Typically, technicians at a repair facility provide the exact locations and weights of the repairs to an engineering team that includes an aeroelastic engineer. The aeroelastic engineer can conduct a detailed structural analysis using a finite element model of the structure. It may take several hours to days to perform the structural analysis for the finite element model. The aeroelastic engineer uses the results of the structural analysis to ensure the modifications or repairs do not affect the structure in a mariner that changes critical flutter mechanisms of the structure.
The aeroelastic engineer uses the results of the finite element model to perform flutter analysis. The aeroelastic engineer may, for example, create mode shapes for the model for one or more of the modes critical to flutter mechanism. The entire process from initial repair to return of flutter assessment may take on the order of one to two weeks.
Because the safety of the aircraft may be in question after performance of the repair, the time required to perform the aeroelastic analysis may represent a period in which the aircraft is grounded and unavailable. The process of performing the aeroelastic analysis is costly and having downed flight time for aircraft is exceedingly costly.